Marguerite d'Angoulême ended her life in her adopted home in the southwest, where she died in 1549 at the Château d'Odos in Bigorre, leaving herHeptaméron unfinished.
Marguerite d'Angoulême, sister of the King of France and Queen of Navarre (1492–1549)
Marguerite d'Angoulême, considered one of the great figures of the French Renaissance, left her mark on her era through her spirituality, humanism, and literary work.
Taking advantage of her status as sister to the heir to the throne, the future FrancisI, she received an excellent education that made her a highly cultured woman: languages, philosophy, poetry, literature, and religion were taught to her by the best tutors in the kingdom.
Marguerite d'Angoulême had many suitors and married the Duke of Alençon in 1509. It was a complete change of scenery for her, leaving the châteaux of the Loire Valley she had known since childhood to join her husband at the fortified castle of Alençon.
In 1515, her life was turned upside down when her brother François ascended to the throne of France. Marguerite d'Angoulême returned to the limelight, participating in celebrations and ceremonies, notably the Field of the Cloth of Gold between FrançoisIand Henry VIII of England in 1520.
She then played a key political role, notably by coming to the aid of her brother, the king, who had been imprisoned following the defeat at Pavia in 1525. She secured his release from Charles V, but under harsh conditions. FrancisIwas grateful and showed considerable clemency both towards his sister, who had been drawn to the new ideas of Protestantism since meeting Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples, a theologian and humanist who influenced her and attracted her to the ideas of the Reformation, and towards the reformers she protected. The Affair of the Placards in 1534, a vast anti-Catholic propaganda campaign, inclined the king to opt for an active policy of repression against the Reformers.
The "Marguerite des Marguerites" lived in Nérac after her second marriage to Henri d'Albret in 1527, but especially during the last years of her life after 1542. She welcomed a brilliant and witty court to Nérac, including reformed scholars and heretics whom she protected from the Sorbonne and Parliament, the authorities that regulated religious matters:
Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples lived there from 1530 onwards after his translation of the Bible into French was considered heretical.
Jean Calvin, the famous Swiss reformer, found refuge there in 1534 after a controversial speech at the Sorbonne.
Bishop Gérard Roussel celebrates Masses there that are considered heretical.
While remaining faithful to Catholicism, Marguerite welcomed reformists and heretics, making Nérac a center of Protestantism.
Overall, Marguerite leads a peaceful and joyful life on her estate, where she devotes herself to her favorite activities: reading and writing. She brought part of her library to Nérac, including Boccaccio and hisDecameron, which would inspire her to write her life's masterpiece,L'Heptaméron, in 1542.
In this collection of 72 tales and short stories begun in Nérac, Marguerite d'Angoulême introduces ten well-born characters, each of whom recounts ten stories and then judges them according to their morals. The story begins with a storm, followed by torrential rain, flooding the land and washing away bridges. Our ten characters then find refuge in an abbey, where they are given food and shelter, but remain trapped by the floodwaters.
To fill the boredom of a forced stay, they discuss love. They particularly target superstitious and lustful people, whom Marguerite truly dislikes...
Marguerite d'Angoulême ended her life in her adopted home in the southwest, where she died in 1549 at the Château d'Odos in Bigorre, leaving herHeptaméron unfinished.
